Immigration Based on Disability Allowance

Hi Tokyo,

I don't know for sure, but asking Google it tells me the following,

Exact Financial Requirements for 2026

The financial "proof of means" is tied to the Bulgarian Minimum Monthly Wage. For 2026, this has been set at €620.20.

To be granted your residency, you must show you have this amount available for the duration of your stay. Here is the breakdown of what you need in your Bulgarian bank account:

Stage of Process                Requirement    2026          Minimum Amount    Recommended Buffer

Type D Visa (Entry)       6 Months of Min. Wage                €3,721.20                 €4,500

Residence Permit (Lichna Karta)    12 Months of Min. Wage    €7,442.40    €8,500

[!NOTE]

While the law technically allows the "minimum," immigration officers have become stricter in 2026. Having a buffer (around €8,500) prevents your application from being flagged as "at risk of poverty," which is a common reason for delays.

The Pension Income Requirement

In addition to the savings in your bank account, you must prove your monthly income.

    The Document: You need a "Pension Entitlement Letter" (from the DWP or your private provider).

    The Amount: There is no official "minimum pension amount," but it is widely recommended that your monthly pension is at least equal to the Bulgarian minimum wage (€620.20).

    The Legalization: This letter must be apostilled by the FCDO in the UK and then translated/legalized in Bulgaria.

Summary Checklist for 2026

To move forward as a pensioner, ensure you have these four "pillars" ready:

    The Pension Proof: Apostilled and translated letter confirming your lifelong pension.

    The Bulgarian Bank Account: Containing at least €7,500 (to be safe for the full year). Note: As discussed, Revolut will not work for this specific step.

    The Criminal Record: An ACRO certificate (not DBS), apostilled and translated.

    The Address: A notarized rental contract or property deed in Bulgaria.

From my experience, any large city/town has OK transport links.

I hope this helps.

Carl

Edit - I know this is for a pension, but I can only assume it will be the same for disability payments.

@CarlS1986

Thank you very much - this is very helpful.

@Tokyo99991 I know a guy who got residence based on his (Israeli) disability benefits, although I don't know how much he is paid.

You will need some savings too (thousands of euros, and it's linked to the Bulgarian minimum wage, which is increasing pretty fast).

ATM you can live more or less decently on EUR 800, but not in Sofia or any major city. You will have too little left if you pay more than EUR 200 in rent.

And with this type of residence you will not be allowed to be employed in Bulgaria for the first 5 years (but you can run your own business - I actually do that, although I am allowed employment.

The simple answer to your question is that by basing your residence in Bulgaria on social security payments, you'll receive a residence Permit under Article 24,1,10 of the "Foreigners in the Republic of Bulgaria Act".  This means that you aren't permitted to work for a Bulgarian person or legal entity, as it's aimed at people withdrawing from the labour market. If you are looking to work in Bulgaria, full- or part-time, you'll need to apply for a Unified Residence and Work Permit.  The catch there is that it's the employer who is required to arrange this and they're required to prove that they can't find a Bulgarian or EU citizen for the role.

There  are a few "angles" which can be worked but they generally involve quite a bit of expense for accountants, tax and social security payments etc.  If you work part-time illegally or without declaring it, you're liable to be fined, deported, and banned from the EU/Schengen area.

If your disability payments are sufficient to live on then it is pretty plain sailing but you do need to also think about health insurance.  The "standard Foreigner policies" are designed to give you the (very limited) absolutely minimum cover, basically emergency treatment only. Chronic diseases and pre-existing conditions are explicitly excluded.  State hospitals here aren't what you've been used to and private hospitals, while less expensive than those in other countries, don't come cheap.  You'll also need to pay full price for any drugs/medication you need for at least the first 5 years.

@Tokyo99991 I know a guy who got residence based on his (Israeli) disability benefits, although I don't know how much he is paid.
You will need some savings too (thousands of euros, and it's linked to the Bulgarian minimum wage, which is increasing pretty fast).

ATM you can live more or less decently on EUR 800, but not in Sofia or any major city. You will have too little left if you pay more than EUR 200 in rent.

And with this type of residence you will not be allowed to be employed in Bulgaria for the first 5 years (but you can run your own business - I actually do that, although I am allowed employment. - @sogy

I think you mean "I'm not allowed employment". A TCN owner/director of a Bulgarian company who holds a Type D visa is allowed to administer the company but is not permitted to do the work of the company in Bulgaria. The only way around that is if the company employs at least 10 Bulgarians as well.

The OP's best bet is just a standard D visa with sufficient income and an adequate amount of savings; the "part-time work" aspect is likely to be more hassle than it's worth..if it's a sine qua non then the OP might be better advised to look elsewhere for a change of scenery.

@JimJ

I am a British citizen and got my residence before Brexit "was done", so I always could work.

@sogy

Yeah, I conflated you and the OP...my bad!  I assume you've exchanged your residence permit for a new biometric one?  The old one no longer permits employment since 2021.

@JimJ Renewed in 2021, a got permanent residence in 2023!

There's no real class of D visa based purely on income, but if the disability payments you refer to are a type of life-long pension based on ill health retirement, you should qualify under the pensioner category.

It's also important to check that your disability payment will continue if you leave your home country. Similar payments made by the UK government stop if the person becomes resident in another country (defined as spending more than helf the year there.

I'm not familiar with any of the towns near Sofia. Most should have good transport links but you might need to travel some distance to find affordable rents.

Also depending on your disability it's important to be aware that Bulgaria is not as "disabled-friendly" in terms of accessibility as you might need. Wheelchair users in particular may need to deal with more than the usual challenges to get around.

I hope it all works out for you.

@janemulberry

Yeah - the "wheelchair ramps" at the entrance to many Metro stations are only fit for wheelchair rugby players to get up or survive the breakneck descent... 😁 Luckily, they all now have lifts, but those at the older stations are regularly out of order. BG is definitely not disabled-friendly; for example, the main hospital in Dupnitsa is pretty much inaccessible for anyone who can't use stairs.

Many of the towns near Sofia (depending on your definition of "near") actually have terrible links with Sofia, unless you have a car.  Even if they have a railway station, the service is pretty poor - and Bulgarian trains have an unfortunate propensity for spontaneously combusting... 😁

Oh my on spontaneously combusting trains! Glad I stick to buses! Our nearest town does have a train station, but with two trains a day at inconvenient times, it doesn't tempt me to try it.

I'd like to thank you all, for your detailed responses, and the helpful information you provided.

@Tokyo99991

hi is this uk benefits as i think if you move here you will lose disability allowance now you need to check before moving my daughter lost her when she moved to bg in 2022

I assume you are not UK? As you lose disability payments even if you only spend 3 months abroad. I think you would struggle to survive on that payment though if you are taking rent out of it.

The original poster is based in Japan, and in some countries state disability payments are more like getting paid an early pension if someone is unable to work due to health problems that can't be improved, or it could be a private work-based pension that pays out on ill-health retirement. That should be transportable.

But absolutely, it's so important for anyone considering moving country to check how emigrating might affect any payments they receive or hope to receive. UK pensioners moving to the EU shouldn't lose much as things currently stand (though there's no Winter Fuel Payment, Pension Credit, or Cold Weather Payments), but moving to some countries may mean getting a pension fixed for life at the same level, or in some cases, no pension will be paid at all! And payment of most allowances and many other benefits aren't transportable at all, even to the EU.

The biggie is that Bulgaria isn't "cheap" any more. It's lower cost and offers many other advantages for those who like the country and are willing to accept and adjust to how different it is. Moving just because it's "cheap" is a bad idea for most people!

I have such client with pension for disability. He has the same SSA Letter from USA stating that he has a retiree status, but not because of age, but because of disability.

So, despite of the country, if the documents is stating s pensioner status, you can apply.

Then the minimal pension and saving should be based on the minimal monthly pension - approx. 350 EUR.

Поздрави | Regards

Nikolay Vasilev

@Tokyo99991

Others have already provided plenty of helpful responses, but here's my take...

(a) A disability allowance will almost certainly be accepted instead of a pension, but it depends on what your official entitlement letter says, i.e. it should indicate that your allowance is lifelong and not subject to further assessment.

(b) I'm pretty confident that 800 euros would be enough. This is more than the official minimum wage (600 ish) and probably more than twice the minimum pension (300 ish).

(c) If you meet the income requirement, I'm not sure that you're also expected to have extra savings too. But the pension route does require that you have a Bulgarian bank account already, which you can only get in Bulgaria. If/when you open the account, it's better stick a few thousand euros in there, rather than having an official bank statement for immigration that shows a zero balance.

(d) If you're disabled, health care might be a major issue for you. In the short term, non-EU citizens can't be covered in the public health system (NHIF) unless they work. This means you need a proper private healthcare policy, which would not be cheap. (The medical insurance for foreigners policy which is required by immigration for your D visa is NOT a substitute for this.) I'm not sure on the exact rules, but there might be more flexibility/assistance if you get assessed by the Bulgarian disability panel (TELK), and they confirm your lifelong disabled status.

(e) The hardest part is living in Bulgaria on 800 euros per month. Given the minimums mentioned above there are clearly some Bulgarians who do so. However, this is poverty level, and I very much doubt a foreigner could manage it. Personally, me and my missus spend almost that just on supermarket shopping. Even if you have savings to BUY a property here, you'd struggle (but it would be easier). If you have to rent, then I doubt you'll find much below 300 euros/m (and you might have to pay bills on top for electricity, internet, mobile phone, water). This is not to knock Bulgaria either, as it's still one of the cheapest countries around... I can't think of anywhere you COULD live on such a low income. If you do want to look for a rental, my suggestion is Bansko, the country's largest ski/mountain resort next to the spectacular Pirin National Park. It's a very charming small town and livable all year round, especially with its popularity with digital nomads. It still has some cheaper rentals... and it's one of the only cheap places that's nice to live in!

(f) Overall... unfortunately, it's probably inadvisable, unless your disability pension is a mere baseline for immigration purposes, and you expect to have additional income from other sources or you have substantial savings.

Wise advice!

Possible doesn't mean advisable, unfortunately. Though it would definitely be more possible to live on that income in Bulgaria than in Tokyo! The health care access is likely to be an issue -- we're making sure we have as much in savings as we can manage tucked away and ringfenced for future healthcare needs.

Re savings requirement -- it's not listed in the retirement D visa requirements on the Embassy website, but  they do want to see the past three month's bank statements, and presumably there's some unstated minimum they want to see there, probably at least a year's worth of the current minimum wage.

I believe a statement affirming one has savings of that amount is required by the local immigration office in Bulgaria when a person goes to apply for residency. Certainly when my sweet neighbour dragged me along last year in the hope she could get me residency without a D visa, a savings statement was needed. But I could just make an affirmation that I had x amount in savings and have that notarised and that was enough to satisfy the requirements, they didn't actually  want to see bank balances or statements.

@gwynj, @janemulberry, @Vasilev, and all other commenters, thank you very much - I really appreciate the time you took to write your answers.

I'm still considering my relocation ✈ options, including Bulgaria, and hasn't made a decision yet. Of course, as some of you suggested, I'll take into account the challenges of living in Bulgaria on my allowance only.